WILTON, Conn., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ --
Startech Environmental Corp. (Nasdaq: STHK), the world leader in plasma waste
remediation and recycling technology, announced today that it has signed a
strategic alliance agreement with the Hydro-Chem Company, a subsidiary of
Linde AG, to produce and sell combined Plasma Converter Methanol systems and
plants to produce low cost methanol from a variety of feed stock materials
processed by the Plasma Converter previously regarded as hazardous and non-
hazardous waste.
Linde AG, a global chemical industry company employing approximately
19,000 people, is one of the leading gas producing companies in the world.
Hydro-Chem, a subsidiary of Linde, is an industrial leader in the design and
production of low cost factory-built industrial gas plants to produce
methanol.
Methanol, sometimes called wood alcohol, is the simplest of all alcohols
and is one of the most ubiquitous and important of all industrial chemicals.
It is an easily stored and transported fluid with an international market in
excess of five billion dollars per year. Methanol is used in the preparation
of many pharmaceutical industry products, food industry products and as a
basic building block in many chemical industry products.
Methanol is the cheapest and most versatile liquid fuel that can be made.
While more efficient than gasoline, it is less flammable than gasoline:
accidental fires can be extinguished with water instead of spreading as a
flaming film. When used as a fuel, it emits no sooty carbon or sulfur
compounds and is cleaner than gasoline. Diesel engines in trucks, railroad
locomotives, and ships can use methanol for at least 90% of their total fuel.
Methanol is preferred in automobiles such as racing cars where efficiency,
performance, and safety are the most important fuel considerations. It is
easy and safe to transport and distribute. In an accident at sea, there is no
fire or oil slick because the methanol dissolves in water.
Joseph F. Longo, Startech President said, "Hydro-Chem and we will join our
systems together and sell the combined package to end-user customers.
Customers using the combined package make money at the front end with the
Converter from processing wastes, and make money at the back end with the
attached Hydro-Chem units producing and selling the methanol." He added, "For
example, for each ton of waste such as tires, discarded paints, solvents, or
PCBs fed into the Converter, about 150 gallons of methanol will be produced."
He went on to say, "We also think that one of the biggest opportunities for
this new low-cost methanol is as an environmentally clean fuel for steam
boilers and turbines in the electric power generation industry".
Dennis Norton, Hydro-Chem President said, "Natural gas is presently the
most commonly used feed stock to produce methanol in reformation plants with
many processing steps. The Plasma Converted Gas, a synthesis gas produced by
the Plasma Converter, eliminates many of the reformation steps and the costs
associated with them. It is a perfectly prepared chemical feed stock for our
modular methanol units that will allow methanol to now be produced at a
fraction of present costs. The reason that this new methanol can be produced
so cheaply is that the PCG is practically free, and the new methanol unit
using the PCG is about one-third the size of the previous units using natural
gas. The PCG is an excellent chemical feed stock for methanol."
About Startech Environmental Corp:
Startech is an environmental equipment company whose Plasma Converter is
essentially an electrochemical system that, while safely destroying wastes,
even hazardous wastes, converts those materials into useful and valuable
commodity products. It does this economically, efficiently, with relatively
few moving parts, and without combustion. The prime mover in the Plasma
Converter process is the chemical dissociation (decomposition) of the feed
materials after which their elemental components (atoms) are reformed into
useful commodities. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has
designated materials, even if they may have once been regarded as wastes, or
hazardous wastes, undergoing such a recycling process, no longer as wastes,
but as "feedstocks."
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding the Company's plans and expectations regarding the
development and commercialization of its Plasma Converter(TM) technology. All
forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that
could cause such a difference include, without limitation, general risks
associated with product development, manufacturing, rapid technological change
and competition as well as other risks set forth in the Company's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements
contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company
expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any
updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the
Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on
which any such statement is based.
SOURCE Startech Environmental Corp.
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Related links:
http://www.startech.net
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/113537.html
CONTACT:
Robert L. DeRochie, VP of Investor Relations
of Startech Environmental Corp., +1-203-762-2499, fax,
+1-203-761-0839, or starmail@startech.net
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